After the Grizzlies' playoff run last season, the Gilmer Family decided to give their annual corn maze at Falcon Ridge Farm a Grizzlies theme.
So Dwyane Wade yelled at NBA commissioner David Stern. LeBron James and Kevin Durant showed up to join in the talks. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said there was "a sense of urgency."
Bart Gilmer understands this last part, at least.
Where: Highway 18, just North of Bolivar.
How much: $8 a person, includes corn maze, pumpkin patch, hay ride and more. Call for group rates (732) 658-5200 or visitfalconridgefarm.net.
No, Gilmer is not an NBA player. He is not a labor lawyer or an NBA executive. He is a farmer. A farmer with a cash crop that you don't see every day.
"It's the Grizzlies logo," he said, standing at the entry to his sprawling corn maze. "I think it turned out OK."
• • •
You think you want the NBA lockout to end quickly?
Meet the Gilmer family of Bolivar, who were so swept up in the Grizzlies playoff run last spring that they decided to put their corn where their hearts were.
"We wanted to do something different," said Bart, 29. "We'd done a bat and a spider the two previous years."
So why not a big blue bear? There's a corn maze of John Calipari's head in a field in Kentucky. It should be vacated any day now. New Hampshire has a corn maze of Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas hoisting the Stanley Cup. The Carl Crawford corn maze may have to wait a while.
"Bart told me we'd need a better GPS to do the Grizzlies logo," said Ray Gilmer, Bart's father, who purchased Falcon Ridge Farm a decade ago.
The Gilmers' old GPS could pin down the location of their mower to within 6 feet. That was fine for bats and spiders, not so fine for intricate logo patterns. So Bart and his dad made a deal.
"I said if the Grizzlies agreed to let us do it, we'd get the new GPS," said Ray.
The rest is agricultural history. The Grizzlies gave their OK. The corn was planted the second week in June. That's later than a normal corn crop because you don't want the corn to be all dried out when the maze season tips off.
The seeds are planted closer together as well. When the stalks are about half-grown, the cutting and shaping begins.
"I got out there with my mower and a machete," Bart said. "Every night, I'd climb up on the barns and take a look and hope it was turning out all right."
It turned out fabulously. The Gilmers opened it to the public earlier this week. Now, if the NBA and the players could just find their way out of their morass, all would be well with the world.
"It doesn't have any impact on the popularity of the maze," said Brad Gilmer, another brother. "We've just become big Grizzlies fans."
The Gilmers don't seem to begrudge the players and owners for their ongoing financial squabble, either. They're not the begrudging types.
For the longest time, the family owned a 90-acre horse farm in Eads. They raised Tennessee walking horses and did pretty well. Then Eads got too busy, and the developers came pressing in. Ray finally broke down, sold the place and found a pig farm in Bolivar that looked promising.
"I thought he was crazy," Bart said. "It looked like a pig farm and smelled like a pig farm."
Two years of hard labor later, it was the prettiest horse farm you'd ever seen. But in the meantime, the developer who bought the place in Eads went belly up. The Gilmers got pennies on the dollar for their land. And the market for Tennessee walking horses went into a deep slump.
"We had to regroup and decide what to do next," Ray said. "We decided on agritourism."
Which is to say, they turned their pretty horse farm into an even prettier farm that's open to -- let's go with the authentic Southern phrasing here -- all y'all.
It's a stunning place, with sunflowers and a pick-your-own pumpkin patch and six ponds and gently rolling hills. They grow raspberries and strawberries and Christmas trees. They've adapted and carried on.
So you could understand if the Gilmers rolled their eyes at the players and owners wrangling over millions. But that's not the way they're wired.
They love the Grizzlies. They love their evolving farming life, too.
"We're growing memories that last a lifetime," said Bart.
Grit, grind and a smile.
To reach Geoff Calkins, call (901) 529-2364 or e-mailcalkins@commercialappeal.com. Visit his blog at . Listen to him on "The Gary Parrish Show with Geoff Calkins," 4-6 p.m. weekdays, on WMFS (680 AM/92.9 FM) and watch his TV show, "Sports Files with Geoff Calkins," Tuesday nights at 6:30 on WKNO.
© 2011 Memphis Commercial Appeal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Geoff Calkins: Typing furiously, but still behind Geoff Calkins: Solution to Memphis Tiger disorder exists Geoff Calkins: Those in charge still don't care, why do you?
October 2, 2011 2:02 a.m. Suggest removal Reply to this post
corporatemanmtwrites:
Can we get a picture of the maze?
October 2, 2011 2:03 a.m. Suggest removal Reply to this post
corporatemanmtwrites:
October 2, 2011 2:05 a.m. Suggest removal Reply to this post
synapsewrites:
I'm puzzled by this maze thing.
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